APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

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APOD Robot
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APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:09 am

Image Monsters of IC 1396

Explanation: Is there a monster in IC 1396? Known to some as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, parts of the glowing gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms, some nearly human. The entire nebula might even look like a face of a monster. The only real monster here, however, is a bright young star too far from Earth to be dangerous. Energetic light from this star is eating away the dust of the dark cometary globule at the top right the image. Jets and winds of particles emitted from this star are also pushing away ambient gas and dust. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the IC 1396 complex is relatively faint and covers a region on the sky with an apparent width of more than 10 full moons. Recently, over 100 young stars have been discovered forming in the nebula.

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Ann
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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by Ann » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:28 am

This is a good-looking portrait of IC 1396, where the "elephant trunk", a "pillar" of the same kind that were so memorably shown by Hubble in the Eagle Nebula, is dramatically outlined in gold. It does resemble a Nessie of some sort.

Since today's APOD rather plays "down" the hot O-type star ionizing the nebula and making its "Nessie" stand out, I thought I'd post a picture where the hot central star is much more obvious.
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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by HarrySevenEagles » Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:09 pm

It doesn't look like a monster; it looks like a fluffy dog.....

I like the ideas of fluffy dogs in space.

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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by Sam » Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:17 pm

"No avian society ever develops space travel because it's impossible to focus on calculus when you could be outside flying." -Randall Munroe

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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by NoelC » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:12 pm

Ann wrote: I thought I'd post a picture
And in living color! :mrgreen:

Thank you, Ann.

-Noel
Last edited by NoelC on Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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BMAONE23
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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by BMAONE23 » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:13 pm

HarrySevenEagles wrote:It doesn't look like a monster; it looks like a fluffy dog.....

I like the ideas of fluffy dogs in space.
How about BARF?

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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by neufer » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:21 pm

BMAONE23 wrote:
HarrySevenEagles wrote:
It doesn't look like a monster; it looks like a fluffy dog.....

I like the ideas of fluffy dogs in space.
How about BARF?
Minister: What's your name?

Barf: Barf.

Minister: Your full name?

Barf: Barf-olemew! I'm a mog: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by NMN » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:55 pm

"Monsters! Monsters from the IC!!"

/presses planet-destroying plunger, dies

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Re: APOD: Monsters of IC 1396 (2011 Apr 25)

Post by Guest » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:49 pm

....or maybe it's Donald Trump.

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